fpoole's Roam'n ROG Blog

Waterfalls, an unknown Waterfall Park area..
(Apologies, Google won't 'Word Wrap', sigh, why do i bother)

I got a flyer/email from the OR Tourist thing and they showed a route to view
the Central Oregon waterfalls. It’s nice when they show you the routing
or locations that can be traveled. Much like the 16-NV Sage Brush Saloons,
they listed them.
There are some 25 in the area and various small and large campgrounds
along the roadway.

Not having a single thing to do other than sit by and count the grains of sand,
I figured, why not? What a pleasant surprise.

It starts just south of Crater Lake. I actually went through there to get to
the first destination, Rogue Gorge Farewell Bend CG, NFS.
Nice camping right on the banks of the Rogue River as it carved its way
through the lava beds.

Nice campsite, plenty of spots, those along the river bank are prime.
No SID due to forest coverage and no cell service so you’re pretty much
dealing with what’s there.

(routing map)

Brochure of 25 falls (Thundering Waters)with camping locations:
(best overall pictures, but BLM links aren’t working right now)

https://www.blm.gov/or/districts/roseburg/recreation/Thundering_Waters/pdf/entire2.pdf

Falls and/or Campgrounds:
Susan Creek Falls

Susan Creek Campground
Boulder Flat NFS
Toketee Falls and Campground
Watson Falls NFS - Day use only
Whitehorse Fall and Campground
Poole Creek Campground
Clear Water Falls and small/limited campground
National Creek Falls
Rogue River Gorge
Farewell Bend NFS, Campground

Susan Creek Falls:
This was a nice one, short easy hike, to the Tall Falls…

Susan Creek Campground
Nice campground, well maintained, no SIDs.

Boulder Flat NFS

Typical of the many NFS campgrounds in the area.
The typically range from about 4-8 spaces, some shorter than others.
There’s a flat boulder you can put a chair on to oversea the river..
Looks like a Launching Point for Rafters and Fishers,
so could be busy during Summer etc.

Toketee Falls and Campground
There’s a campground, nice, Treed at the NE side of the lake. Falls are at the South end. Falls are a bit of a hike due to steps up
and down, but easy trail and well maintained.

Watson Falls NFS - Day use only

A bit of a hike, going up is nicer than going down the 2nd route,
but 2nd felt shorter. Water wasn’t on that much, but still a nice one.
Going up are many little short creek falls which are nice.

Whitehorse Fall and Campground
I liked this one the best as the falls, not big were nice and the campground

was right there, apx 5 spaces, no SIDs, but till nice,
shaded under trees and right next to the “Babbling Brook”,
it’s not shouting.. Heheh..

Poole Creek Campground

I just had to stay here, just cause.
Didn’t do the falls further up the road, but will catch them next time.
KOA on the lake too further up, past Poole’s Creek. Campground was so-so,
lake was low.

Clear Water Falls (and small/limited campground)

Nice Falls, easy to get to. RV parking just as you turn in,
go to the right, limited. Small, Car/van/tent camping just before the fall’s
parking area. Short hike to the falls.
I could have stayed at campground as planned, but uneven, short and
would have been a PITA to maneuver into it.

National Creek Falls

This was the nicest ‘Big Falls’. A bit of a drive, 3 miles?
On paved, single lane road to the turn off, then short narrow road to
the parking area. Hike down is a bit, but typical of any switch back trails.
Hike down and then, of course, back up.

Farewell Bend NFS, Campground

Very nice campground, plenty of spots right on the river.
Other spots under the trees. You can? Hike down to the real “Rogue River Gorge’
apx a mile or less down.
Spots along the river are nice and of course a premium, but some were open.
Big areas..

Rogue River Gorge

Worth doing since you’re in the area.
You can hike back to the Farewell Bend campground, long like a ~mile or so.
RV parking there and nice well kept trail along “The Gorge”..

It was a nice trip to do and I plan on coming back to knock off the rest.
Dump N Fills at an RV park right on the highway, Elk Haven Resort, $7 (Dump n Water)

Cheers......

Routing - Utah Tour

Album Pic links:
Goosenecks SP, UT
Moki Dugway, UT
Muley Point, UT
Natural Bridges, UT

Leaving Flagstaff, finally, I headed on out to the Goosenecks SP which is a nice place to stay awhile.

While it can get a little windy coming up from the river there, it is nice to camp along the rim.

There are limited spaces, 10? maybe right at the campground

but you take the dirt road out along the rim and plenty of sites either on the rim or the inside of the roads.

If high winds are forecasted for a while, might be best to camp on the inside, otherwise the rim, IMNSHO, is the better of the two. You'll see the turnouts and probably the rock piled fire pits.

Not a whole lot to do right in the area unless you like roaming around aimlessly in the desert or along the rim.

Now, the question might be, why go back to Goosenecks (been there 2x s) ... well aside of it being cheap, $10 night, nice views, it is also near the Moki Dugway
and Muley Point up on top.

Moki or Mokee, or Mokey, or however you want to spell it, it's something to check off the "To do" list.

The road, paved as showing, stops with the pavement and becomes a good gravel/dirt road, easily traveled.

While it's narrow and has a few hair pinned turns, it's pretty doable.

My rig is apx ~24', it's just a pickup sized truck after all, and I would feel comfortable towing a 13-16' trailer. Might have do some wide turns but traffic isn't that bad, so just wait till they pass.

Just take it slow n easy if you have to tow something.

Next stop is Muley Point. It's at the top of the Moki where the pavement returns to head north.

On the left side, going up the Moki, a gravel/dirt road will take you to the view point and boondocking.

It was a lot longer than I had thought, washboarded, so a PITA to drive. eventually getting you to the point.

The road goes on, but was a little too rough for me to do alone without recovery equipment.

Plenty of camping areas, a few bigger trailers on Rock and or dirt.

Now, why go there in the first place.... VIEWS....

The view's area was Awesome-Possum. If you look closely, some days you can see South America (joking)

(Believe that Monument Park way out there)

So, between the two, Moki and Muley, they both have fantastic views.

Onward and upward, next stop is to the Natural Bridges near Blanding, UT

This was a little interesting in that I got mixed up on "Bridges vs Arches" so I was thinking, big mistake, that I'd be seeing those 'Red Arches' that you always see. Nope....

Basically, there are 3 main arches there. You drive around a 9-mile one-way loop and pull off at various locations. There are trails to hike to the bottom, but I let me mini-telephoto doing the walking for me.

You can see the trails below.

Find the Bridge...
Easier if close up.

Well, missed that one, not entirely unusual to say the least, as these were more like 'Ghost Bridges'. can you see it?? Neither did I.

I went to the Look out point.... and looked... and looked again, and looked again, still couldn't find it so figured I had to walk down the trail to see it...

Hiking down...

Interesting formations going down the trail.

(Do you see the Shark? I didn't until posting the pic)

And then Voila', 'Thar she blows....'...

So you drive/ride/walk/fly, whatever around the loop to see the 3 main Natural Bridges, there are maps at the visitor center that helps.

Camping.... sigh, "Timing, it's not my thing...' FULL !!!

Limited campsites, small and only a few in the campground.

Pretty much car/truck/small trailer/van camping. Nice if you can get them.

Now, with the "Full" in mind, there are alternatives, maybe not as nice.

Before the park entrance there are 3 alternatives, 2, next to each other and the 3rd an Abandoned Air Strip. These are FREE BLM dispersed land with dirt roads going back into the 'out back'.. Visitor Center has the maps and info on them.

(Road for the Deer one BLM Dispersed)

I would NOT drive these if rain was anywhere close, as the Red Stuff is like ice when wet, you're gonna get stuck....

Smaller sites and the powdered dust, blow like crazy if you sneeze..

but dry, roads are ok.

The Air strip was fine, just a little further away, but doable. Not active, but you never know..

(Tower, Fox990, ready for takeoff.....)

It is right off the Hwy and little side slots you can slip into. bigger rigs park alongside or at the ends..

I just picture an Emergency Landing coming in so I left the runway clear.

and a nice view, so it's not that bad.

and it snowed... fun in the Sun, well not today anyway..

Blanding, UT - Nice place and very convenient.

The Shell/7-11 has gas/diesel, obviously. but also a 'Dump N Fill' station for $5 or free if you buy fuel.

(Station is at the RV park, Water is locked, key at Shell counter)

But wait, there's more..

a small laundromat, little white shop there.

Also, a good Market across the street

a Hardware store, next to that.

and finally a bigger, very nice laundromat just apx 1/4 mi south of Shell station.

How do I know that or more importantly Why?? I know that, brings up the routine stuff you have to plan for and do while on the road.

Laundry.... Eventually I run outta T-shirts. They are the easiest to maintain. Low Maintenance as you just wash'em, dry'em, fold-roll'em And DONE!!!..
Then you have to deal with the machines themselves. Single/Double/Triple and how many "Soap/Oxy Pods" if there are any left after snacking, Gwad.. I'm of the consensus that you use 2- pods for double and 3 for triple. One place said no... so who knows..

And finally, Duallys (trucks) do have a benefit. Several times I've been caught with a bad tire, AKA flat tires. The Dually is good as it's like carrying a spare on the wheels.

I couldn't change one, some 9+ lugs that supposedly need to be loosened/tightened according to a set pattern and have no place to carry one.

The point being that I had a small screw in the tire, found out when I took it into Blanding. I have small compressor/battery jumper but it only went up some 40 lbs PSI.. I need 90 PSI min, for the 19.5 sized tires.

(Previous Flat, drove some 40+ mi before seeing it)

So the additional tire was able to carry the weight to repair shop. I kept the speed down to apx 45 mph as I didn't want to shred it.

I've had to do this twice, but need to get the Compressor w/Air Bags as I had on my other truck. I would recommend Bradford Tire, not sure what else he can do.
Edit

Bradford Tire39 E Center StBlanding, UT 84511

So, after a quick fix/patch and propane fill up, I was loaded n tied, ready to ride.

I wasn't sure when I'd get outta Blanding, doing laundry so looked for a place to land if running late. Hate pulling into campsites, especially dispersed ones, at night.

Found one just north of Blanding, reservoir that looked good, but was planning on getting up to Moab, UT Ken's lake.

Ken's Lake, just south of Moab, UT.

All reviews stated, "...Plenty of campsites, No PROBLEM, nice place, blah-blah-blah.

Got there, FULL.... There are two areas, the main one above and another one a little further back.. 'FULLER'... Nothing on the water or more like a pond/reservoir

Ended up at Willow Springs BLM Dispersed,

north of Moab after checking out the two other sites along the Colorado River, just north of town.. FULL and FULLER (beginning to hate Moab) .

Willow Springs BLM area is a little iffy on sites. They have some along side the road and the road is a good one, but the side spurs are rough. Very active with dirt bikes and UTVs and as goes with the activity, they area racing up and down thinking, "What Dust...". It's that red Talcum Powder stuff so even a 'Sneeze' can kick up a dust storm.

It was crowded, I was lucky to find a spot off of a side spur.

As it turns out, I'm not a big fan of Moab without a Buggy.

Especially during May apparently the busiest season, so sitting there in the dust, staring at the riders was painful and just added to the continued frustrations that I can't seem to get over.

Finally got fed up, headed up to another campsite on the route, Horse Thief CG, BLM, which was OK, nicer but costs.

Again, without a Buggy, pretty much sitting there staring at the shrubs. so it was getting time to move on. Had to do a Dump N Fill.

Dump N fills, tried one RV park that I thought said $5 but wrote back, it's only for guests. Figured default, KOA at south end of town would do for the standard $15, was some $30 and recommend the Maverick Gas Station, south end of town for free. I figured there'd be a long line but just one or two in front, bring a long hose for water, but worked find.

(Dump line)

(Water line, need a 30' + hose)

I was pretty much stuck in Moab due to $$ needed for fuel ~ $3.50 Gal Diesel, so went back to Willow Springs thinking I'd stay till payday still a week away. Got there, winds howling, dust blowing and I still don't get this . I made the mistake of parking in a wide open place. People coming in for just the night off the Hwy next to entrance since it's free, parked within 20 feet of my place (too close) Area wide open, but they come right up next to you, just don't get it..

Anyway, one night and I was ready to go. Dug around for Fuel money and headed out, I've had it with 'The Moab', just wanted to get outta this place.

Headed North-West...

Next stop?? not real sure yet, but towards the Great Basin, NV.. I'll do the original planned route next time.

I did make a day drive up to the Dead Horse Camping area just to check it out.
$15 just to drive in, so turned around and continued on to the Canyonlands Visitor Center.